This invention relates to devices for transporting a line or other object from one end of a strung cable to the other end in order to span barriers between the cable ends.
In the stringing of new telephone, power or other cables or lines, such as cable television lines, it is often necessary to span manmade or natural barriers, such as freeways, ravines or rivers, between existing tower or poles. One method of spanning the barrier to string a new line is to fire a projectile connected to a leader across the barrier. The projectile is then retrieved, placed on the pole on the opposite side of the barrier, and the leader, which is then connected to the new cable or line, is pulled by means of winch across the barrier. When spanning other types of barriers, such as a freeway, traffic is stopped and the leader carried across the freeway to the other pole.
The invention is a remotely controlled device which drives along an existing cable and carries the line or leader to the pole on the opposite side of the barrier. Several types of remotely activated line carriers or transporters are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,516 to Jacks, U.S. Pat. No. 1,569,521 to Milton and U.S. Pat. No. 628,994 to Schottle, et al, disclose self-propelled cable driving devices which utilize at least three pulleys or wheels and a spring-activated mechanism to urge the wheels into contact with the cable. The prior devices, because of their use of three wheels and the spring-activated mechanism, present difficultly in driving across splices in the line because of their lack of streamlined construction, and are frequently halted in their movement by certain obstacles, such as tree limbs or branches, in the vicinity of the strung cable.